Output details
34 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
University of the West of England, Bristol
An Inventory of Al-Mutanabbi Street
An Inventory of Al-Mutanabbi Street is an international touring exhibition of the Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition’s eponymous artists’ book project (http://www.al-mutanabbistreetstartshere-boston.com/index.html). The Al Mutanabbi Street Coalition was founded in April 2007 by San Franciscan poet and bookseller Beau Beausoleil as a means for the creative community to protest about the bombing on 5 March 2007 of Al Mutanabbi Street (the ‘Street of Booksellers’) in Baghdad. In July 2010, Beausoleil and Bodman invited 260 artists each to create three books as an ‘inventory’ of the reading material lost in the bombing. The ‘inventory’ produced was as diverse as the Iraqi population, including Middle Eastern literature, history, political theory, religious tracts, popular novels, stationery, school notebooks, scholarly works, childrens’ books, poetry, technical manuals, comics and magazines.
The exhibition has toured internationally since January 2013 and is continuing until 2018. Bodman is curator and coordinator of the exhibition for Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia. She acted as the co-curator for this exhibition at five venues in New York (July to September 2013), including the Center for Book Arts in collaboration with Alwan for the Arts, Columbia University Libraries, the International Print Center and Poets House. Bodman wrote a 5,000 word essay for the accompanying catalogue. The exhibitions have been hosted by thirteen venues in 2013, including cultural centres such as the Hague Public Library in the Netherlands, art galleries and education organisations. A further fourteen venues in Europe, Australia, Africa and the USA have been confirmed for 2014.
The exhibitions are accompanied by readings, panel discussions and lectures to enhance the project’s aim to promote awareness of the bombing and provoke international debate. The project has been featured in the international press, including the Daily Star (Lebanon), Imprint (Australia) and the Guardian and has also raised over £6,500 for Médecins Sans Frontières.
